A New End
by Jikoo
Summary: Set a few years into the future. After a devastating war, the shinobi now face a new totally unexpected enemy. Who are these people so determined to wipe them out? Will contain slight shounen ai in the following chapters. Please R
1. Chapter 1

**A New End**

**by: Jikoo**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto_

This is a alternative universe fanfiction, set a few years into the future, after a third great shinobi war. In the aftermath of the terrible destruction caused by the war, the shinobi face a new and unexpected enemy. This might be the hardest challenge our heroes have ever faced. And worst of all, it might make them question the actual worth of their way of the ninja.

**Chapter 1:**

Boots

These damn boots, he had been staring at them for a full week now. Sometimes he could swear that they stared back. As much as he wanted to take his eyes off those damn boots, tormenter of his poor feet, he couldn't. And that's was because of the blasted heavy backpack, making him hunch over, like an old man. Endless marching, going nowhere, searching for something that was impossible to find. Or at least that's what it felt like most of the time. But then again, when you finally found it, you wish your were back in the monotone column of men going nowhere, again. The scraping sound of dragging feet around the clock was enough to drive a man crazy, and make you ponder upon the meaning of it all. The sound was a constant reminder to everybody in his unit, that they were not were they wanted to be, and by god, they were not headed there either. So far from a nice warm bed, a good home coocked meal or the touch of a loved one. The simple things that made life worth living, existing only as a faint memory in the back of their heads. They were all smack in the middle of hell, searching for what they hated and feared more than anything in the world. It was not logical; no one in their right mind would ever do such a thing. But no one in war is in their right mind. They were all stark raving madmen that were perhaps the only sure fact Koji could cling to.

The one thing Koji had was a purpose. They all had a purpose in Fire Ant Unit 06.

It was to fight _them_

_Find them, fight them, resist them, apprehend them, wound them, and stop them._

_Kill them_

That was all that mattered now, after three long years of constant battle, sleeping in ditches with one eye open, afraid of every shadow that moved in the night. The numerous skirmishes he had been in, scared shitless, among the frenzied cries of his comrades and mind numbing blasts, from the crude repeater rifles. All he lived for now was the sight and sound of a kill. The happiness after you have survived yet another encounter with the things your mother had told you stories about to scare you when you had been disobedient as a child. Killing them was a relief, and the only times Koji could lower his shoulders and relax, if only for a moment. And he knew all the other poor sods in his unit felt exactly the same. But after each kill, the same old fear crept up on them, time after time. The killing was becoming an addiction. A thing you hated, but loved at the same time.

Night after night he saw the slightly deranged looks on the faces of his comrades, not daring to go fully to sleep, and it made him hate them even more. And filled him with the morbid desire to kill them. Kill them all.

Kill these abominations, these merchants of death, heralds of woe, killers of children, disturbers of peace

Demons

As Koji watched the flickering of the small campfire they had made die out, a word crawled up his throat and slithered like a parasite across his tongue. In the dying embers of a fire, Koji uttered the name of what he hated with every fibre of his being.

..Shinobi...

Know your enemy. That is one of the foremost principals of warfare. And quite rightly so. If you don't know what you are up against, how can one know how to fight it? Koji thought he knew his enemies well. The infamous Shinobi, warriors, ninjas. But who were they really? Back in boot camp, Koji's head, and all the others as well, had been filled with propaganda about all the foul and hateful acts committed by these abominations. Koji found it bitterly ironic, that these were the same people that had been their protectors not so long ago. Even though now it seemed like ages past.

Within every country there was located a hidden village. It was the home of the shinobi of one particular country. The shinobi were powerful warriors that served as a county's military force. Warriors that protected the masses, a system that had worked for nearly a hundred years. The problem was that the shinobi grew powerful. Very powerful, and their leaders, the legendary Kages, grew more and more secluded and sly, plotting against one another. Hidden villages waged wars against each other, not caring what their original leaders told them. They became independent, forgetting their original purpose of protecting their whole country, not just their own village. War raged, and peace were only held together by dodgy treaties, broken at the drop of a needle.

As the shinobi cut them self of from the civilian world, people became afraid of them. The masses had always been in awe of their once proud protectors, but awe had turned to fear, when they were no longer controllable. Rumours were whispered in the streets, about the horrid rouge ninja wielding impossible powers. And their own civilian leaders stood powerless to oppose them.

It became clear that peace would not be attainable; stability could not be regained because of the sneaky nature of their former protectors. But how? These warriors were know to manipulate the very essence of life, the chakra flowing through every living thing, harvest it and hone their skills from when they were children. They were killers almost from the moment they were born. At first Koji had a hard time believing the stories about ninjas breathing fire, smashing rocks with their bare hands, and even kill at a glance. As he sat up in the ditch, Koji shivered at the realization that it was in fact all true, and in some cases even worse. It made chills run down his spine, each and every time. In the three years he had been fighting, he had seen nins moving at impossible speed, seen soldiers having their head removed with a mere kick. He had seen raging demi-gods killing his comrades, and many a time he had watched with a morbid fascination of the grace and skill of these deadly beasts. It was really a miracle he was alive.

How could a mere human do battle with these things? 10 years ago such a thought would be considered the ramblings of a madman. But the seclusion of the shinobi would prove to be their downfall. As they shut themselves of from the world, submerged in their own affairs, they were oblivious to the advances in technology that had been made these last years. And from the collective mind of the civilians came the tool to be used to restore peace, and remove these blind hogs of war from their lives.

Koji patted his R-3 Repeater Rifle with a slight smile on his face. No shinobi had ever been faster than a bullet.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, I own a nice pair of socks

I hope chapter two will be enjoyable

Chapter 2

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The shadows had grown long, when Unit 06 reached a forested area, after days out in the open. The men dreaded these places, for a good reason. Most shinobi had eerie stealth capabilities and where true masters of camouflage. A forest was the perfect stage for any shinobi, a sanctuary and home. So by deductive reasoning, that would be the places to search for them. On the other hand it would be like walking into the lions cave, and they all knew it all too well.

"Move out! Fan formation, gunners up front!"

At the barking orders from Lieutenant Hakenshou, the men scrambled out in the well know formation. Koji hurried to the back, feeling slightly sorry for the poor guys assigned to the front. It was always like this. Every time they were called out in battle formation, he praised the Gods that he was a support trooper, and not a frontliner.

"In the rear, with the flare" was Koji's motto, and when in battle formation, he had developed the nervous habit of repeating it to himself like a mantra. A support trooper was just like a frontliner, with the exception that he carried a number of flares. Shinobi were deadly, but in the dark that increased ten-fold. So in the event of a contact, it was Koji's job to fire one a the flares, to light up the surroundings, and alert any other unit in the vicinity of their position. Other than that he was armed and equipped just like the regular trooper. One standard issue R-3 Repeater Rifle with a lever-action breech mechanism that allowed for 7 rounds to be fired before it had to be reloaded. In addition, they were issued 3 sylindracal shaped eksplosive grenades with wooden handles, and a bayonet. They bayonet was really just for show. If you got close enough to stab a ninja, he was close enough to dodge your attack and slice you in half. Koji, felt an all to familiar feeling as they started to advance through the forest.

Fear

Unknown to Unit 06 a pair of cold, calculating eyes, hidden from view, were watching them. The unseen figure, moved without a sound, like a cat in the forest canopy. Like a shadow it made it's way to vantage point overlooking three troopers on the prowl.

With practiced instinct, the shinobi silently drew three blades from a pouch on his right thigh. Feeling the familiar weight of the steel in his hand he raised them eye level, and gazed at his prey between them. Unconsciously he calculated range to target, wind correction, trajectory and target movement. The muscles in his arms tensed, like a steel spring ready to go off. Taking a final deep breath, he was ready to strike. Twisting his torso slightly to the side for maximum momentum he let loose with a violent but fluid motion

But at the last second he aborted the moment. Behind his three targets, eight others emerged from the brush. Quickly assessing his chances, the shinobi placed his blades back in the pouch and blended into the shadows.

No contact yet. With a bit of luck this area would be clear, and they would be back in the comforting column. The forest loomed over them like a towering giant, and Koji could see that his brothers in arms were very much on edge. Combined with the deafening silence it was an explosive cocktail. He hated the silence. The shinobi moved in it, the silence was their pathway. Whenever it grew silent, someone usually died. The only thing Koji could hear in this accursed place was the wild beating of own heart.

"In the rear, with the flare" he whispered to himself

"Contact!"

The silence exploded with a cry from the frontline. Koji could feel the sickening sensation as adrenaline shot through every inch of his body. He clutched his rifle tighter than ever as everybody around him shot into action. A second later he saw the first shot being fired, although he never saw a target. As if on cue, all the men around him opened fire, seemingly aiming nowhere. The sound was deafening, and in a few seconds the air around them where filled with strong smelling gunpowder smoke. Over the noise Koji could hear the roaring voice of Lieutenant Hakenshou

"Cease fire! Cease fire, damnit!"

The lieutenant ran to the front line screaming, and after a few more rounds the forest fell silent once more. A shot fired on the right flank, caused the same volley of wild firing all over again. The Lieutenant was furious and ran around screaming at the top of his lungs. After the noise died down, once again, their commander continued screaming

"Get a hold of your self damnit! We can't waste ammo on targets that exist in your mind!"

He had succeeded in getting everyone's attention, and calmed down a bit.

"Now, witch one of you called out the contact?"

"Ehm…I—I did sir!" The answer came from a frontliner. Koji didn't remember him; he must have been one of the new guys. There were always new guys in the frontlines

"Now son" the lieutenant said calmly "What did you see?"

"In the tree, j-just up ahead, I saw a figure moving, sir"

"Could you be sure it was a person? Isn't it possible it could have been an animal or bird for that matter?" The lieutenant looked at him quizzically.

"I guess so, sir," the frontliner said meekly.

"And there you have it" Hakenshou said, addressing everyone

"I know you are under a lot of stress, but you can't let your imagination get the best of you! We are professional soldiers!"

Koji winched at that last remark. There was nothing professional about them. They were all farmers and merchants that happened to have rifles. Any idiot could be thought to fire one.

"We need to pull together, and.."

His last sentence was cut short by a whizzing sound, followed by a sort of thump. As he turned back, he saw the panicked eyes of a man with a pair long metallic needles trough his throat. The wounded frontliner tried to speak but only gargled as blood was filling up his throat and lunges. With a helpless look on his face he fell over dead.

Koji tried to breathe, but it seemed he just couldn't. He tried to move, but it seemed he just couldn't. A million things went through his head, but his body was just not responding. A good three seconds went by without anybody saying or doing anything; they just stared at the dead trooper in front of them.

Hakenshou was the first to snap back, and barked out orders. Panicked men, ran to their places in formation, frenzied looks on their faces. Koji started muttering his mantra to himself, faster and faster, feeling sick to his stomach.

Suddenly the lieutenant raised his rifle high and fired a single shot. A yelp could be heard from a branch of a tree some 30 meters away. A figure fell, hitting two branches before crashing to the ground. Koji felt sick. And that made him very uneasy, considering he should be feeling good. They had taken down the enemy, but something felt wrong, very wrong. As they advanced on the wounded and immobile enemy, Koji could see that that the form was small. Too small, it couldn't be a grown person. The enemy was on its stomach, face down in the dirt, a large part of the right calf was torn out and bleeding profusely. Long straight black hair covered its face. As they closed in, rifles towards their target, they could hear soft whimpering as the little form tried to drag itself away.

"Oh dear God, we have shot a child," Koji whispered to himself in horror.

"Check it out" Hakenshou stated totally emotionally detached.

One of the frontliners closed the distance nervously and poked the wounded child in the head with the barrel of his rifle. A small pale hand shot up, and closed around it. The frontliner tried to pull it out, but the child did not let go. After a few good yanks he managed to free it, and looked at the lieutenant, as asking for what to do next. Suddenly the child turned its head towards them, and they all gasped in horror.

Koji unconsciously took a step backwards. It was a little girl, looking at them with utter hatred. Her eyes….

Her eyes were white, totally white, with veins bulging out around them. Koji felt she could look straight through him. It was horrible. Nine of them did not get much time to remain shocked though. The girl twisted around and her little open palm connected with the stomach of the frontliner closest too her. The punch looked like a child's slap, but to their collective horror the trooper collapsed, blood flowing from his moth. The furious little abomination tried to leap for the next one, but her wounded leg broke under her, and she fell to the ground with a howl of pain.

"Restrain her" Hakenshou said in the same stern and cold manner as before.

A nervous trooper raised his rifle and went over to her talking with a stammer all the way there

"P-please lay s-still girl…. I won't harm y-you, just l-lay still"

She didn't. She clawed after him like some sort of wild beast. She grabbed his leg, as he screamed at her to please stop. Her palm grazed him and he fell over screaming. Everybody watched this unreal scene unfold before them, awestruck and horrified.

It came to an abrupt end when Lieutenant Hakenshou raised his rifle a second time and shot her through the head. Her whole body jerked backwards as the back of her skull was ripped out, and she slumped over with her eyes still wide open.

Koji vomited on the spot by the absolutely gut-wrenching, ghastly sight before him.

"You fucking bastard!" one of the horrified troopers screamed and lunged at the Lieutenant, who gracefully sidestepped and gave the trooper a solid backhanded punch to the side of the head

"Get a hold of yourselves, all of you! I did not kill a little girl! I killed an enemy, I killed a ninja. And that is what we fucking do!" He was fuming, and screaming at the top of his lungs.

"See what these godless bastards make their kids do? A 10 year old, all ready a mindless, brainwashed killer! I did what I had to do, and I expect nothing less from any of you! Do you get that?" he paused for a second eyeing each and everyone, for confirmation that they had gotten the message.

"Bury the dead, and move out!" He snapped as he walked off.

After 2 hours Koji laid the last bit of dirt on the three graves they had dug. He couldn't stop staring at the last grave, only half the size of the two others. It made him hate their kind even more. Had they no shame in their lives? Making killers of little children? And forcing other people to murder these very children was the most horrid thing he could ever have imagined.

He laid a little wilted flower on the smallest grave and spat at it.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: You should know the drill

Chapter 3 is up, it's a bit more personal then the last two, it introduces some of the characters we all know, and love.

* * *

The forest was silent. Apart from an occasional breeze that ruffled the treetops nothing could be heard. A slight buzzing sound disturbed the silence but disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. Suddenly it was there again, but stronger this time, and it was more like a thump. But just as before it disappeared.

A single figure shot out of the forest in a giant leap. As it hit the ground a buzzing sound could be heard as energy was expelled and the figure took to the air again. Moving at unnatural speed it vanished into the treetops, and just like the sounds, it was gone.

The figure zigzagged soundlessly from branch to branch in a display of supernatural grace. That illusion was soon broken, as a branch snapped and the unlucky speedster tumbled to the ground.

"Crap!"

The unlucky man got to his feet, brushed off dirt from his flak jacket and muttered various curses under his breath. His brown, dirt stained pants had torn from the impact, and blue eyes looked upset at the large gash that ran from right under the waistline, all the way down to the knee. The man hooked a finger into it and sighed.

"That's going to need stitching," he stated to himself as he ran his fingers through a mess of dirt brown locks and secured it in a ponytail. Pausing for a while, he fidgeted with a rouge stray of golden yellow that shone through the mud and dirt. Looking up he sighed again and was about to set of when something occurred to him.

"Oh, I'm already here"

Placing his right hand in front of him in a seal, the forest before him flimmered like a canvas in the breeze and faded away, revealing a cave opening. As he walked in, the illusion closed the gap behind him, hiding the cave perfectly from any prying eyes.

The cave was large, considering the small opening. A large fire in the middle of the cave produced both heating and luminance. Three people sat huddled around the fire in silence, not even looking in the direction of the man that had just walked in. At the far corner of the cave, away from the small crowd there was seated a man on a slightly elevated natural platform. The blonde man walked over to him, nodding in the direction of the people around the fire as he passed them. This small gesture was either ignored or went unnoticed. Either way it was not returned.

"Report?" came a slurred voice, as the man on the platform raised his head to meet the blonde's gaze.

"Encountered enemy patrols in sector 7 and 12, avoided confrontation, as they were heavily armed, and I felt they were really on their toes."

The silver haired man on the platform sat cross-legged and took a long zip from a flask that hung from his belt. After a pause he made grimace from the bitter taste of the contents and looked at the blonde again.

"You afraid, scardy cat?"

The blond looked at him with a hurt and sad look.

"You really need to lay of the sake, Kakashi-sensei" he stated flatly, and snatched the bottle out of his hands, as he turned to walk away.

The older shinobi flailed clumsily for his stolen possession, but quickly gave up with a defeated sigh and slumped back against the cave wall.

The blonde joined the group around the fire, only to find it the coldest place in the cave. A female with pink hair averted her eyes from the newly seated. A man with a ponytail and earrings in both ears turned his back on him. The only thing the blond felt was the uncomfortable stare of an unusually grim Hyuuga Neji.

"Which sectors did you say you covered Naruto?" came a harsh and direct question

The blonde shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny, and was silently surprised at Neji's tone of voice.

"How come you ask? It was sector 7 and 12" he answered, clearly uneasy with the questioning.

"And you did encounter enemy forces?" Neji continued in the same almost menacing tone

"Yes, you must have heard it when I reported to Kakashi." Naruto snapped, annoyed

"Why the hell, didn't you engage them?" Neji asked aggressively, raising his voice and leaning over towards the man he yelled at.

Naruto could hear the girl beside him starting to quietly sob. He looked at her with a sickening feeling growing in his gut. He snapped his head back at more yelling from the angry white-eyed man before him.

"Do you expect a 10 year old to fend for herself!" he screamed mere inches from Naruto's bewildered face.

"Hey calm down! What the hell is going on? Shikamaru?" The man with the earrings had turned back to face them, with a ready hand on the shoulder of the enraged Hyuuga. He looked at Naruto with red eyes, full of sadness and nodded at a corner of the cave. Naruto turned his head and saw the all too familiar sight of freshly upturned dirt. A grave, and an all to short grave at that. Naruto felt sick as the knot that had been building in his stomach exploded, as he realized who lied there.

"Hanabi…" he whispered tears already welling up in his eyes "How?"

"Shikamaru found her in a hastily made grave in sector 7, exhumed her, and brought her here." Sakura spoke up, between sobs

"In your damn sector!" Neji screamed and lunged at Naruto. For a second Naruto felt the hands of a man that had killed countless foes around his troth, and was terrified. Shikamaru tried to yank him back but to no use. The brawl was suddenly ended as a fast moving metal object passed between them slicing off a strand of Neji's hair, and embedding itself in the opposing cave wall.

"Hyuuga! Are you trying to thin our ranks even further?" Hatake Kakashi stood on shaky legs, looking at the group. "Cut it out, now." After this statement he stumbled ungracefully backwards and fell in a drunken haze. His actions still had the desired effect, and the commotion died down. Naruto looked sadly at Kakashi, before he got up and left.

As the fire in the cave died down and their dwelling had grown silent, Naruto sneaked back in. Sitting in front of little Hanabi's all to early grave, he sobbed, full of self contempt and frustrated anger at the sons of bitches that caused this atrocity. But the thing that hurt the most was that this was an all too familiar feeling.

* * *

The cold, raw cave air made Naruto wince, as he turned uncomfortably half asleep. As he turned over he hit sharp piece of rock sticking out of the ground. Grunting he sat up and rubbed his back. He had fallen asleep right in front of Hanabi's grave, and he felt a pang of loss in his chest, as his brain remembered the day before. Turning around, he could feel all the joints in his body aching from being so cold. He had fallen asleep a good 20 meters from the fire, and realized he was freezing. The cave was almost empty, except for a pink haired woman sitting next to the dying fire, staring blankly at the still glowing embers. Naruto walked over to her, squatting down next to her.

"Good morning, Sakura-Chan" he said with a careful smile

The kunochi turned to face him and returned the gesture

"Good morning" she replied, her voice sore from apparently just waking up as well.

She looked tired. Not tired from waking, but tired in general. Her emerald green eyes had lost its usual spark; they looked like they glazed over more and more for each passing day. She had dark circles under them, and her smile was reduced to a kind of a smirk. Naruto found it sadly ironic that she was named after a flower. Ever since the civilian coalition had imposed their first decrees, ever since this war started, she was wilting. Naruto understood why very well. Since Sasuke left all those years ago, well at least it felt like an eternity, her life, and everyone else for that matter had taken a sharp turn for the worse. The Akatsuki situation, the resulting 3. Ninja war, and on top of that, they were now under siege by a force no one had expected. So many loved ones lost, so much hurt and destruction. And the end of it all was nowhere in sight.

They sat a stared at the glowing embers in silence together for a while, before Naruto broke the silence.

"Where are all the others?"

"Neji took of early this morning, probably on a recon mission. I was asleep when he left, Shikamaru told me before he headed for a town to get some supplies." She replied staring off into nothingness.

There were still towns that traded with the shinobi. Even after it had been made illegal by the civilian coalition, money was still money to many people, in many towns. Even if they needed supplies in an area that followed the new rules, they could get it by simple use of a henge no jutsu, or plain old disguise.

"What about Kakashi-sensei?"

"Around…I think he's off somewhere training." Sakura said that with a hint of contempt in her voice. Their former sensei, the once great copy ninja Hatake Kakashi had succumbed to the lowliest of things. After years of steady service to Konoha, after countless feats of great bravery and skill, and most impressive, enduring the loss of many a friend and loved ones, the thing that broke him was alcohol.

"I think I'll go find him," Naruto stated "Will you be ok by yourself?" he said placing a reassuring hand on Sakuras shoulder. She squeezed it gently and gave him a broken smile.

"Yeah, sure.."

Silently making his way through the bush, Naruto felt a familiar presence in the forest before him. Slipping up a tree, he peaked out from the foliage, overlooking a small clearing in the dense forest. There he could see his former sensei in deep concentration, halfway into a series of practiced kicks and punches. Naruto decided not to disturb him, and continued to watch from his vantage point.

Kakashi had stopped in the middle of the clearing, eyes closed, breathing calm and controlled, arms at his sides. Naruto had noticed that Kakashi's usual flak jacket, sandals and shirt was in a pile on the ground a few meters away from him. In fact, he was only wearing his pants and the bandages that covered his calves and feet. Even his mask was off. Naruto remembered that the late Team 7 tried almost anything to get that thing of their sensei, to no avail. He almost chuckled to himself when the fond but distant memories hit him. Those were the days, they really were. He had actually seen his sensei's face on a few occasions over the years, and it made him understand why he hid it. The popular belief among the Konoha women had been partially true, even being a man Naruto had to admit his sensei was very handsome. But that was only half the truth. Running along his left cheek splitting the left side of his lip, Kakashi had an unusual scar, from a wound that had healed pretty badly by the looks of it. Naruto had guessed it was a result of a poisonous blade of some sort, but had never asked. The scar marred the otherwise very good looking mans face.

Naruto showed the thoughts to the back of his mind, and concentrated on the man below him. Kakashi raised his hands at his side slowly as he inhaled deeply. When the arms were level with his head, he suddenly exploded into action. Shifting his legs lightning quick into an L formation, resting most of his weight on the back leg, he brought his hands into something that resembled the praying mantis style, palms open and wrists relaxed. Naruto watched intrigued. Kakashi was using a rare form of sleeping dragon style; Naruto was under the belief that they stopped teaching that in the academy, even before Kakashi was a student there. Naruto had only heard bits about it from Jirayia in the days of their training. Apparently it was one of the most powerful taijutsu in the whole of Konoha, but it had been dismissed as to difficult and time consuming to master, in the times when shinobi were being shipped through the academy and into battle. All of this made Naruto very curious.

Kakashi kept his stance for a few moments, like a steel spring ready to go off. Suddenly thrusting his right hand forward, he leaned into the punch following up with his left, masterfully ducking his head in a manner that gave it cover from his arm, but did not obscure his vision of the imagined target. Suddenly leaning backwards in a defensive motion he kicked out with his right leg, twisting his upper body 180 degrees, and landed on one knee facing the other way in a defensive position. He took another deep breath, seemingly resting for a moment, and once again exploded. This time it was faster and more complex. This continued, in a pattern of either complete relaxation or explosive action. The intervals changed, and the pauses grew shorter and shorter, until the moment was a blur of kicks, punches and rolls that Naruto had a hard time following. Suddenly Kakashi stopped as suddenly as he had started, breathing heavily, covered in sweat. Naruto whistled inwardly, he was truly impressed. That display could make even the late Gai a bit envious.

Kakashi started a walk over to his pile of belongings whispering to himself, but loud enough for Naruto to make out.

"That was a good one, huh dad?"

Dad? Naruto frowned, who the hell was his former sensei talking to? He decided this was a good time to reveal himself. Jumping from his hiding place, he landed gracefully a few feet away from Kakashi.

"Impressive show Kakashi-sensei" he said casually.

"Didn't notice I had an audience" Kakashi replied his back turned, putting on his discarded clothing.

"Are you getting rusty?" Naruto half joked, trying to lift the melancholy mood. "And if you didn't think you had an audience, who were you talking too?"

Kakashi sighed and turned to face Naruto, pulling his trademark mask over his face. Naruto never liked to see the copy ninjas face. Besides his handsome features, his face and especially his eyes held so much sorrow. For a man that was known to convey all his emotion through his usually one visible eye, his whole face was almost too much to take. It was so full of repressed hurt and sorrow, it made Naruto's heart sink in his chest.

"Oh just, blabbering to myself" The taller man replied, in a bad attempt to change the subject.

"I heard you" Naruto said seriously "And I have hear you before as well. You talk to your dad, don't you?"

"And what's it to you really?" Kakashi glanced at his former pupil sideways as he rummaged through his backpack.

"It's not healthy, and my expert analysis has deducted that it might be that damn sake you always chug down." Naruto was getting irritated, almost angry.

"Oh this?" Kakashi said, holding up a bottle he found in the backpack. "Not healthy?" he took a long zip of the contents, and his behavior angered Naruto to no end. He tried to snatch it, but Kakashi sidestepped and kept the bottle out of range. Naruto lunged for it, but the older shinobi gracefully grabbed his wrist, throwing him to the ground. Naruto growled in dissatisfaction and got to his feet.

"You damn drunkard!" he yelled, frustrated

"That may be" Kakashi retorted calmly

"That stuff is making you lose your mind, can't you see that you idiot?" Naruto fumed.

"That's not the sakes fault" Kakashi sighed almost mournfully "It's all this that's killing me, this place, this war, our situation."

"We all have to deal with that, it's how things is! We are shinobi; if we get a problem we deal with it, no matter how big it is! It certainly doesn't solve anything to walk around in a drunken haze!"

"And how do you suppose we deal with this problem, Naruto-kun?" Kakashi said almost scornfully. "This is not like another war, were we kill the enemy and all is well. This time the enemy wants us dead and gone, not because of some border dispute, or power struggle. They want us dead for what we are. We shinobi are unwanted, a tumor on the civilians glorious new world order. In their eyes we are rouge, volatile and dangerous, therefore we must be destroyed. They will kill as all to achieve peace. We are killers; we deal in death, and have failed our original purpose. There can be no peace before we all die "

Kakashi's apocalyptic speech made Naruto sick. It really hurt to see his former sensei, so utterly loose hope, and even more it hurt, because his logic made sense.

"Even so, you can't drink to forget it all. It will all still be here tomorrow!" Naruto tried to remain unfazed by Kakashi's crushing speech.

"I don't drink forget, Naruto, I drink to remember." Kakashi walked over too him placing a hand on the blonde mans shoulder. "That's what you have been hearing. I drink to remember what was good in life before we all had to endure this hell. But that is my business. Sake is the one thing keeping me sane."

"Have you just given up?" Naruto asked with downcast eyes.

"Naruto…" Kakashi spoke softly "You have never lost hope, and I love you for that. Don't let the rants of a drunkard get you down"

His one visible eye cringed in a smile Naruto had known since he was twelve, and it made him feel a bit better.

"Uhm..Ok" Naruto replied with a strained smile.

"See you back at the cave, right?" Kakashi asked

"Yeah, sure"

"Ok, then" Kakashi said embracing him quickly before he left.

Naruto was left in the clearing by himself, not knowing what to feel. He felt awful, and yet felt comforted by the embrace of a man he thought of as a surrogate father. But most of all he felt angry, so angry it hurt his insides, and pounded in his head. Civilian coalition he spat. They were the ones that took away his loved ones, and caused all this despair. A new world order? They could just try to make one. They had no fucking idea what they were up against.

Naruto let out an ear-shattering scream, more feral than human.

* * *


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Naruto, and you all know it

Chapter 4:

Strange Encounters

* * *

The world turned to an insignificant blur as Naruto speed through the forest once again. Not gracefully like before, but faster, much faster. He does not move like a shinobi, but then again he is no shinobi. He is one of the Jinchuuriki, he holds the power of human sacrifice. Naruto sneers as he feels the chakra of the Kyuubi Kitsune, mightiest of all the mythic youmas, course through his body. It's the most delightful pain he has ever felt, and over the last few years he has learned to welcome it. It's something he will never tell anyone, but the pure powertrip of having demonic powers is delightful. He can hear his own heartbeat in his head, thumping wildly and the crackling sound of demonic chakra escaping his body in his mad dash to reach the ones that have wronged him. He grins, reaviling his canines, as he thinks of how he will slaughter everyone of those helpless bastards. In the back of his head he can hear the maniacal laughter of the great fox, and he laughs with it.

Branches crack under his feet as the red chakra rips through them. Naruto can feel his own sanity slipping away, like sand in the palm of your hand, as the demon in his belly gradually takes over. Naruto enjoys those moments greatly. The world turn black and white, all his worries slip away. In a world driven completely by instinct, he is the master of everything. He is right, the enemy is wrong. He is strong, they are weak. The meaning of life seems simple. Kill those who oppose you, protect the ones you love. It's simple and easy. The circle of life seems complete. In his head he can hear a twelve year old blond boy screaming at him to stop, but his weak little voice drowns in the thundering storm that is the demon's laughter.

* * *

Koji was back in the column. The comforting line of men transported like cattle from one place to another. They were outside of known shinobi teritory now and only half a day's walk from one of the many outposts scattered all over the country. It was a fortified stronghold, in which they could be safe from shinobi attacks, get ammo and supplies, and some well earned rest. The fear and anxiety was lifting, and he could spot careful smiles, and low smalltalk among the men. He even saw lieutenant Hakenshou smile, if only for a fleeting moment. Koji looked back over his shoulder, and could see the forest they exited a day before in the distance. It sent chills down his spine, so he quickly turned away, and focused on what was lieing ahead. Focus on the good things. They were few and far apart, but if one lingered at all the bad things that happened, you could never make it out of the mess this war was. The only thing bothering Koji at the moment was some of the gravel that somehow got from lying on the ground to beeing in his boot. It was currently making it's way into his foot, and it kind of hurt. 

"Lieutenant Hakenshou, sir!" he called out.

Haukenshou halted along with the rest of the men. "Yes, private?"

"I have gravel in my boot, sir. Can I have permission to remove it, sir?"

"Yes, private, but be quick about it".

Hakenshou turned away and ordered the rest of the men to follow him, as Koji sat down to take of his boot. He quickly took off his backpack and sat on it, while starting to undo the laces. He took the opportunity to stretch his legs a bit, after all they had been walking all day. Turning his discarded boot upside down two little pebbles fell out and bounced a bit on the ground. To Koji's surprise they did not stop bouncing, in fact most of the pebles on the ground were moving ever so slightly and he could hear a slight trembling thunder. He looked up and saw the men 30 meters infront of him had stopped and was equally bevildered as himself. As quickly as the trembling had started, it vanished, and Koji in his mind shrugged it off as a possible minor earthquake. As he looked down at his foot again to put on his boot, he could feel a shockwave blow his hair back as a red streak hit the midst of their ranks.

* * *

Naruto watches the world rush by with the eyes of a demon. Everything has taken on a red hue and the colours of the world has faded. Little specs of dull blue radiate from every living organism he catches in his tunneling vision, and he hates them all. He can feel the need to extinguish them all, to make the world all red. Red, the only colour he likes. The dull blue is disturbing, but at the moment he does not care. He sniffs the air, and abrubtly changes direction. There they are... 

He exits the forest in a great leap forward and grins even wider when he spots his prey a hundred meters or so ahead of him. They appear as little dull blue specs that tarnish his red world. He grits his teeth, feeling even more chakra bubbling up in his body along with his rage, as his body hardens and his fangs grow longer.

"They won't even know what hit them, it will be like swatting gnats." is the last rational human thought that goes through his head before completly giving in to the demon.

In moments he is upon them.

His first strike hits like a hammer swung by an ogre. In this state Naruto feels like the world slows down and he is hyper-sensitive to his surroundings. He can feel the bones fail in the face of the man he has struck, the warmth of the fresh blood that covers his hand and sprays out onto his face. He takes in the sickening sound of the crushing skull and he loves it. The victims have yet to realize what is happening. Naruto twists into the little crowd again, and with a slash from his now razorsharp fangs he disembowels the man next to him. He could have cut off his head, but the Kyuubi Kitsune grants him more power if he makes his victims suffer. In seconds he has killed off almost everyone, without giving them enough time to even reach for their guns. The world is almost back to the way it should be. Red and quiet. He is covered in blood and guts, and licking his lips, he feels the copper taste of death. Naruto turns to the last one standing, and takes a moment to examine him, coking his head sideways. He does not look as scared as the others, no sign of panic on his face, but Naruto can smell the stink of fear under the mask of bravery. He finds it quite amusing that this man actually has convinced himself that he can survive this, and find it in him resist the abomination that has slaughtered those around him. Narutos amusement quickly turns into anger as the fox in him thunders against the insolence of this mere human that thinks he can stand up to a God. Enraged Naruto charge him as the man raises his rifle to take aim, but Narutos fangs finds their way to his wrist and lops off his hand before he can fire. As Naruto is about to deliver the final blow, his head suddenly jerks back, and pain shoots through his body. The pesky human was faster than he thought and had managed to shoot him with his sidearm. Naruto can feel the bullet being pushed back out of his forehead, thanks to the amazing healing powers the fox has granted him. He grabs the man by his troath and lifts him off the ground. The mask of bravery fails, revealing a visage of fear, and Naruto grins widely as he plunges a hand into the mans chest and crushes his heart.. The eyes of the man roll back into his head as he goes limp. It was good fun to break his spirit

Naruto exhales and relaxes somewhat, but something is still wrong, he turns and finds that some distance from the others there is another one sitting on the ground. He is different from the one he just killed, fear oozes off him in waves. Annoyed that he thought he had finished before, Naruto plunges towards him only to see a bright white light.

* * *

Koji stared mouth agape at the living nightmare that unfolded before his eyes. It was not like anything he had ever witnessed before. He had encountered many shinobi before and had been awestruck at their abilities, but it had never been anything like this. When asked what shinobi fighting styles was like by curious and scared villagers, he usually answered that it was like a dance of death, graceful and deadly. And that was about as accurate a description as he could give. 

This time it was different. There was no grace in the thing that moved before him. A thing, it couldn't be human, it was too fast, too ferocious, and cutting it's way through the men in his unit with utter brutality and godlike strenght. In seconds their unsuspecting column had been transformed into a picture of hell; guts and blood everywhere.

It could not be real, Koji thought. Monsters did not exist, but here it was, like a wild beast, with a wicked lust for blood, and it was currently holding the remnants of Lieutenant Hakenshou's heart in his fanged hand looking at straight at him. Blood red eyes, with slithed pupils. It was the one thing that convinced Koji that the thing in front of him was not human at all. It looked rather displeased, and Koji froze in fear when he realized that he was the source of it. The beast in front of him paused for slight moment before it lunged at him with lightning speed. The last thing Koji saw was a bright white light.

* * *

It was a big surprise to Koji when he was actually able to open his eyes. In his frenzied panic he had done the thing he was trained to do. He had fired a flare, but this time the flare had still been strapped his west. He was lucky the flare did not take his head clean off. He was even luckier that the blinding light the flare produced, had made his assailant miss his target, if only for an inch or two. 

The claw that had been aimed for his head was buried in the ground a few inches from his face. As he looked up, Koji saw something he would remember for the rest of his days.

The monster from before was gone, and in it's place there was a pair of blue eyes

A pair of human eyes, so full of sorrow and regret, pain and suffering, that Koji felt he was looking into a mirror. Koji could feel the warmth of the man's breath on his face, yet strangly enough he did not feel scared. The man before him cast a confused glance at the carnage behind them and visibly winced. Koji looked into his eyes once again, and suddenly felt compelled to comfort him. Reaching out to touch him, the man jerked his head back and got on his shaking legs.

Naruto walked backwards eyes fixed on the only survivor of his attack, scared but not at all confused. He knew exactly what he had done, and why. He felt so bad, but knew that he had only killed the enemy, and noone of his comrades would hold that against him. He was an instrument of war, an extremely efficient tool. He had become a tool, just like that boy Haku so many years ago, and at that time he had sworn to himself that he would never become one. Childish nonsense. He did and had done what was expected of him, and had fulfilled his purpose as a shinobi.

His actions were just, but still tearing him up inside. His training would have him kill the man before him, but a part of him, however small, wanted to embrace, save and comfort him. Turning his eyes away from the last survivor, he dragged his feet just to to get away from the conflicting feelings, although he felt like lying down and crying.

Koji watched his assailant stumble backwards away from him, with an expression on his face Koji could not read. He looked so human; scared and torn, but at the same time, determined and jaded. The only thing Koji felt he could disipher from the man's visage was guilt.As the man turned and started to walk away Koji did something unbeliveable. Of all the things he could have, he did the single most illogical and idiotic thing he could have ever done.

He got up and followed him.

Koji would question that decision time and time again for the rest of his days.

* * *

Naruto walked from the battlefield, not really knowing were he was heading. He felt tired, so very tired. Not really physically tired, but mentally he was exhausted. Physically he was all but perfect, he did not have a single battle scar on his body on accont of the Kyuubi. It was his mind who took the damage each and every time. After the delightful rage, he was always jerked back into reallity, and it seemed crueler every time. He made a half consious desition to head for a village he had seen in the area before, not noticing the man trailing behind him. 

Koji followed Naruto a good 30 metres away, his head filled with a whole bunch of nothing. He had not been able to form a coherent thought since he had witnessed the slaughtering of his squad. Some sort of morbid fasination drove him to follow, even though he could not put words to it. He let his head hang and just occationally lifted his gaze to make sure he was on target. After doing this for quite some time he looked up, and for a second time that day he looked straight into the eyes of Naruto.

"Oh...shit.." he thought as his brain scrambled back into action. He had no clue what to do, so he just stood still, staring, like an animal freezes under the gaze of a predator.

"Oh shit, he's going to kill me, I'm gonna die right now! He is gonna tear me apart just like he did the others!"

Koji could hear his own voice in his head screaming at him to run, but the rational part of his brain told him that it would not do him any good. So he just stood there and stared, petrified.

Naruto cursed under his breath. In his groggy state he had not noticed the soldier that had followed him. How very not shinobi-like. And why the hell had he followed him? It made no sense whatsoever. He should have killed him when he had the chance. Not that the chance had escaped him, he could kill him now.

"Why the hell are you following me?" he half sneered at Koji

Koji cringed, beliving that he was looking into the eyes of the grim reaper himself.

"I...I don't know..." came the weak reply. "Please don't kill me.." he added not really beliving that his request would be accomodatet.

Naruto cursed again. He should kill the soldier right now, but he knew that he could not do it. Almost every kill he had ever made was partially or fully under the influence of the Kyuubi. He hated killing people, and that was really rather pathetic considering his way of life. He really did not know what to do, and felt kind of acward just standing there staring.

"You know I should kill you, right?" Naruto asked in a menacing tone

"Please don't" was the only thing Koji could squick out as he took a step back.

Naruto's attempt to scare the man away had failed, as he realized it was not possible to scare the man more than he already was. The situation was very weird, and was about to take a weirder turn. Naruto was dumbstruck, and after a moment of silence he felt he had to say or do something. He looked at the soldier again and asked a rather wierd question.

"Uhm, what's your name?" he blurted out, not really knowing why he asked

"What? I...my name? Koji..It's Koji" Koji answered confused

The fear was starting to loosen it's grip even though it was still very much present.

"I'm Naruto" Naruto found himself stating. As weird as the situation was, Naruto found it strangely furfilling.

"You should really get that looked at" Naruto continued refering to the scorched wound on the side of Koji's face.

"Huh? This?" Koji said confused bringing his hand up to his face, and for the first time realizing that the wound hurt like hell.

"Can't stay here sprouting roots, or that wound will fester like crazy" Naruto stated matter of factly. "Gotta get out of here right?"

Koji's mind was as cluttered with nothing as before, and the logic of Naruto even in the morbid situation they found themselves in, seemed to make very much sense

And so they started down the muddy road in silence

* * *

This chapter has come along quite slowly due to personal issues back in the real world, but I feel that it's back on track, and the next chapter will follow shortly. 


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, as you might have guessed

Chapter 5

* * *

The mud splashed underfoot as the sky opened up. Koji looked at the man walking before him. His long dirt stained blonde hair was plastered to the sides of his face, weighed down by the rain. He was not very tall, actually a few inches smaller than Koji himself, but his build, and way he carried himself bore the signs of a lifetime of relentless training. His clothing he wore was rags, a brown pair of pants that only reached halfway down his shin, held up by a rope that doubled for a belt. He wore traditional wooden sandals and a flack jacket similar in design to the one Koji had. On his arms were metallic armguards and a black leather glove covered his right hand. It suddenly occured to Koji that Naruto did not have any backpack or water-bottle. As far as he could tell the shinobi did not have any supplies of any sort on him at all. Koji's mind started racing. He had not thought about it before, but a shinobi was a warrior, much more skilled than himself and in all probability not one to do anything without planning. So what the hell was going on, if this particular shinobi walking a few meters ahead of him doing, without any supplies what so ever. The only time his unit, the Fireants had done something similar was on hit and run missions, very close to base.

Koji gulped.

What if they were close to a shinobi hideout? What if Naruto had spared his life just to capture him and bring him back to his comrades? What if he was being made a prisoner? He had heard horrible stories of shinobi that experimented on live subjects for various reasons, and tales of soldiers being taken prisoner to suffer an unknown fate. He started to feel sick to his stomach as his all too vivid imagination started to paint him horrible pictures of what might be in store for him if he continued to follow Naruto.

He started sweating as an incredible urge to turn and run washed over him. But what good could ever come of that? He knew that the shinobi was faster than he could ever dream of becoming. Each step he took felt heavier, he felt he was marching straight into his own damnation. Into the lions den, lured in just to be picked apart and studied like an animal, by cold calculating emotionless minds. He looked at Naruto's back again and somehow the shinobi seemed so much more scary this time around. Koji gripped his Repeater rifle tightly in his hands. He had to get out of there.

Silently rummaging through a pocket in his flack jacked, Koji found his last remaining clip of ammunition. He tried to stay as silent as possible, but found it quite the accomplishable feat. He was so nervous that he fumbled with the magazine and dropped it with a thump.

Naruto turned around and saw Koji franticly trying to pick up the dropped item.

"You drop something?" Naruto asked

"Yeah! Yeah I did!" Koji said nervously and a bit to loud, followed by a weak laughter

"Right..." Naruto said looking at him a bit confused, before he turned and started down the path again.

Koji's heart raced like crazy, for a moment there he thought that he was going to die. Clutching the clip in his hand so tight that his knuckles went white, he praised God that the shinobi had not understood what he was up to.

It seemed like the path they were walking along had not changed at all since they had started. The rain had not stopped either, it was starting to go through Koji's uniform making him cold and uncomfortable. Silently Koji placed the clip into the magazine-well of the rifle, locking it in place as carefully as he possibly could. He almost jumped at the small click sound it made, and cursed his own uselessness under his breath. Raising the rifle ever so carefully, he tried to centre it on the back of the man in front of him. A part of his mind told him to pull the trigger and get the hell out of there, but then again Naruto had spared his life earlier. If the shinobi turned and saw what he was doing, Koji was sure he was not gone be given that gift again. After a moment more of hesitation, he lowered the rifle, not sure if was because he wanted to spare the life of the man in front of him, or to spare his own.

* * *

They arrived at a small run down, one street town. Koji was not sure if it even qualified as a town. The so called town consisted of only one street lined with a few houses, and some shops of sorts. It was getting dark, and the town seemed almost abandoned, save for a few lights that hung from the window of a rather large wooden building. The atmosphere was a bit creepy as the rain pored down and there was not a soul to be seen, except for Naruto who was walking conveniently behind him.

"So this is the "town" you have been talking about?" Koji said over his shoulder sarcastically

"Yeah, it is" Naruto replied sounding a bit offended

"So we walk for three hours just to end up here?" After realizing that Naruto had no desire to kill him, Koji had steadily grown bolder in his comments.

"Hey, shut it soldier boy. This is about the only place left where I can get a drink without all the sneaking around or henges"

"Henges?" Koji asked confused

"Eh, that is just slang for disguises" Naruto lied, not wanting to go into a lengthy explanation about the ninja arts. "This place is so cut off from the rest of the surrounding villages, it's easy to just slip in, get what you want and get out without being noticed."

"But if you are so adept at disguising yourself, as I recon shinobi should be, you should be able to get in unnoticed in any village, right?" Koji wondered

"That's true, but in case something does happen, I can get the hell out long before anyone can alert other towns. In short: if the shit hits the fan, my ass is covered"

"Oh, I guess that makes sense" Koji replied "But, this does not seem to be the place to get supplies, not to be rude or anything" he added quickly.

"I'm not a demanding man." Naruto said smiling. "I need that drink now, so get moving"

It was not a long walk to say the least, and seconds later the two were standing outside the only tavern in the town. The building was rather large, considering the size of the other buildings around it, it looked old and worn but sturdy. Strangely enough there were no windows, just a little staircase that led to a heavy wooden door about a meter under ground level, and a large sign that read "The Burning Hog"

"How charming" Koji muttered and started down the stairs but was stopped by Naruto.

"I think it's best if I appear as your subordinate in here, just to avoid any possible confrontations." Naruto started as he took of his flak-jacket and armguards and placed them in a brown bag kept in his jacket. "You're the big soldier hero around here, you know"

"Yeah, your probably right Naruto" Koji agreed as he took of his helmet and fastened it to his backpack. "Let's go"

* * *

Hot smoke hit their faces as they walked into the surprisingly crowded bar. The room was dimly lit by kerosene lamps that lined the walls and hung from the ceiling in some places. The interior seemed to be made exclusively from oak Simple stools lined the walls with square tables in front, that looked old and worn, just like the rest of the place. There were surprisingly many people in the bar and every one of them seemed to be engaged in some form of conversation. Naruto guessed that everybody knew one another seeing that the town was very small. The bar was located in the right corner of the room lined with bar stools. Naruto noted with a disapproving grunt that the selection of beverages were, at best limited.

In the centre of the bar there seemed to be some sort of VIP area, consisting of three round tables situated around a centre pillar that supported the roof. The people sitting there were rather scruffy looking but none the less had the complete attention of the staff. As Koji and Naruto passed them on their way to the bar, a large bald man slapped the passing waitress backside hard enough to topple her over, causing her to drop her tray of beverages.

"Oh no.." the waitress said weakly and looked heartbroken at the mess. One of the other occupants of the "VIP" area, a skinny, bearded man shot up out of his seat and lifted the fallen woman to her feet.

"Look what you have done you clumsy bitch!" he yelled only a few inches from her face.

"You spilled our drinks! We paid good money for it!"

"I'm so very sorry sir" the waitress answered looking at the floor in shame and fear. "I will replace your drinks at once"

As she turned to walk, the high pitched voice of the skinny man rang out again.

"That's not good enough" he said smirking as he grabbed her arm. The poor waitress yelped as he pulled her close. "You have to do us a favour" he grinned.

"Yeah! A favour!" the others around the tables hollered and laughed.

The waitress looked petrified. "What? A favour? No.. I.."

"You spilled our drinks, it's only fair you compensate us." The bastard grinned widely. "You just have to entertain us for a bit. Don't worry Ryoka is great company once you get to know him"

The large man with the eye patch laughed roughly and licked his lips.

"No..I can't" the waitress tried "I have to work.."

"Oh that's ok, you can get back to your drink serving" the skinny man said in an almost comforting tone. Then he added "But you are coming with us later" as he showed her away. The waitress had tears in her eyes as she got back to the bar.

As soon as Koji and Naruto sat down, she walked over to them and placed a sake bottle in front of them. Naruto could see her reddening eyes, but she was putting on a brave face.

"We only serve sake and beer, and the beer went stale a week ago" she stated as a matter of factly. "That will be 40 gil"

Naruto looked at Koji hoping he had some money. Naruto himself sure as hell did not have any. Koji looked up a bit annoyed but paid up.

"Hey soldier!" came a call from behind.

Both Koji and Naruto turned their heads towards the self-proclaimed owners of the place. The obese bald man held up his drink towards them.

"Killed anyone of those ninja lately?"

Koji cast a sideways glance at Naruto who just stared blankly at the group.

"Yeah.." He answered. "Shot a few of them the day before yesterday" he added with a fake sense of pride.

"Good going soldier-boy! The only good ninja is a dead ninja!" the fat man shouted, earning the loud praise of his drinking buddies. "Barkeep! One sake for my ninja killing friend!"

Koji nodded a fake thank you and turned back to the bar.

"Should we take it?" he asked Naruto.

"They are a bunch of pigs, but the drink is free" Naruto answered casually, downing a cup of sake. The barkeep, an elderly man put another bottle of sake in front of him. Koji slipped him some money for the second bottle, the fat guy wasn't very likely to pay anyway. The barkeeper whispered a thank you and shot them a little smile before he went about his business.

"So much for a free drink" Naruto muttered annoyed.

"Hey if I accepted it would be like stealing, do you think those guys would ever pay up?"

"Yeah, yeah your right" Naruto agreed, still a bit sour.

The bar was bustling with talk and the duo at the bar had almost finished their first sake bottle. Spontaneous singing broke out every once in a while, as people seemed to forget the hardships of war, if only for a second.

The jolly mood soon came to an end, as the so-called VIP got up from their seats to leave. The skinny man who had harassed the waitress earlier, started shouting something. Naruto could not make out what he said over the loud chatter that filled the room. The chatter seemed to irritate the skinny man to no end, so he effectively silenced them by firing his gun into the air. The room instantly went dead silent at the sudden boom. The posse of seven walked over to the elderly barkeeper.

"Hey old man! We are about to leave, but we have a date with the waitress. Where is she?"

"I'm sorry sir" the old man replied bowing his head in fear. "Ayame-chan has left, she was not feeling very well"

Naruto knew for a fact that she had snuck into the back just five minutes ago, to avoid them.

"You lying old bastard!" The skinny man screamed in his face and pushed the old man so hard he collapsed into the shelves of liquor behind him. Naruto felt the urge to rip the bullying bastard to pieces, but the logical part of his mind did not want a quarrel. He could not afford to blow his cover, it would be too much of a hassle

No one in the bar dared to interfere even when the group made their way over the bar and started kicking the defenceless old man where he lay. Koji looked at Naruto as if to say that they had to help and stated to pull on his sleeve. Naruto looked back reluctantly but got to his feet as he whispered to no one in particular "There goes the cover" But just as they got up and were about to interfere, Ayame, the waitress came running in from the back.

"Stop it you are killing him!" she screamed in despair

"Well there you are. Dump the old geezer, there is more fun to be had with this one" The group of men grinned their perverted grins and grabbed the poor girl.

"Leave Ayame-chan alone, I beg of you" the barkeeper pleaded blood gurgling in his throat, but his plea fell for deaf ears.

Suddenly a cloaked figure got up from his seat. Naruto had not noticed the man; he had been seated in the corner of the room, just outside the reach of the light. The man was quite large and a hood masked the features of his face. Naruto found it rather odd that he had not noticed the man; he usually had complete control of his surroundings.

The large man made his way over across the room towards the group of men currently dragging Ayame kicking and screaming by her hair behind them.

"What is he up to?" Koji asked apparently nervous about the brawl he knew was coming.

"He probably wants to be a frikkin' hero" Naruto growled, as the two made their way towards the group as well. "He is going to get himself killed, we have to stop the fool before it's too late"

They caught up with the hooded man at the exit, and Naruto put a hand on his shoulder.

"You really should not do that, you are going to get yourself killed" Naruto said calmly

"And what is it to you?" The large man responded in a deep voice, not turning

"Do you really want to risk your life for this?"

"Someone has to do it, none of you cowards will" he replied scornfully as he started to walk for the exit. Naruto still had his right hand on the mans left shoulder and held him back.

"Look, I'll go.." he started, but before he could finish the large man twisted his shoulder to the right and out of Naruto's grip, turned halfway towards him and shoved him forcefully away. Naruto toppled over backwards and crashed into a table behind him, getting showered in stale beer in the process. As he looked up, a confused Koji was looking down at him.

"What the hell was that?" Koji asked, apparently befuddled by how easily the man had showed Naruto away.

"I don't know" Naruto said equally confused, looking at his beer-soaked clothes in dismay. He could have sworn he felt chakra in that push, but none the less, he felt incredibly stupid for getting tripped over. This was definitely not a good day for being a shinobi.

A scream brought their attention back to whatever was going on outside.

"Oh no, the crazy bugger tried to stop them!" Koji exclaimed as the both of them rushed for the door.

A scene very much unlike any they had expected met them on the other side of the door. Every single one of the seven men that had left with Ayame was left scattered on the ground severely beaten. In the middle of the carnage, the hooded man stood holding his cheek. Ayame, strangely enough looked angry.

"You hentai bastard!" she shouted "You are just like the rest of them!"

She stomped off fuming, presumably going home.

"My, my" the large man said half loud to himself. "What has become of this world if a young flower can't show apritation towards her gallant saviour?"

Naruto just stood there dumbstruck at the weirdness of it all, but weirder still was the strange feeling of déjà vu. After a moment of confusion the large man, who had had his back turned the entire time started to walk away.

"Hey!" Naruto called after him. "Hey, stop for a minute will you?"

The request was not granted, so Naruto started walking after him, Koji following close behind.

"Hey, stop already, I just want to talk to you!" Naruto continued breaking into a mall jog to catch up with the apparently deaf man. Koji kept a safe distance, just in case.

Naruto had almost caught up with the hooded man and continued talking.

"You are a shinobi right? You have to be, no civilian can take out that many people that fast. So what village are you from?"

The man showed no signs of slowing down, nor did he seem to listen at all. This annoyed Naruto, but he controlled himself, continuing talking.

"Please stop, I just want to talk. Like it or not, all shinobi are in this fight together, we should help each other."

After a few minutes of more blabbering, Naruto got fed up and grabbed the man by his collar.

"Look, I'm not going to leave you alone until you talk to me!"

Naruto could feel the man tense up as he stopped. From the shove he had given earlier and the way he had handled the men outside the bar, Naruto got the feeling he was skilled, even for a shinobi. But if he did try anything again Naruto was ready for it.

"Let go of me" the restrained man suddenly said, sounding almost bored.

"Not before you f…" Naruto started but before he could finish what he was saying, the man yanked his body forward freeing himself from Naruto's grip. The blonde cursed, he was sure he had a firm grip on the man. Twisting to his left the large man avoided Naruto's next attempt at grabbing him and got into a defensive stance.

Naruto attacked. Not all out, just a straight punch to test his opponent. It was easily blocked so Naruto followed up with a swooping left crescent kick. The large man ducked with surprising agility sweeping Naruto's foot making him tumble backwards. Naruto quickly regained his footing and attacked again, faster this time. Bending his knees more, he leapt forward kicking twice before he landed, but not one of the kicks connected. Moving faster still, Naruto struggled to land a hit, but with no success. It was not that the man before him was amazingly fast himself, but he seemed to move so correctly, so painfully calculating and predicting to a degree that he outclassed Naruto's taijutsu skills by far. Growing increasingly frustrated after each blow that had no effect Naruto changed to the fastest style he knew the praying mantis. But just as before the hooded man blocked and ducked masterfully. After a few glancing blows Naruto took a straight punch to the face followed up by a swift knee to the stomach and an uppercut so hard that it sent him flying backward.

The world rippled around Naruto. His vision tunnelled as colour seemed to drain away from everything, leaving only faint specs of red. He had had enough. He had got no answers from the mysterious man, he had been showered in god knows how old beer and on top of it all he had been totally outclassed in taijutsu. Naruto could feel a familiar sensation as the chakra of the captive demon in his belly forced its way into his entire body. No one treated him like this and got away with it.

Koji watched the whole thing in horror. The demon that had killed all of the men in his unit was back, and Koji had no hopes that if Naruto killed the hooded man in that condition, he would not hesitate to kill Koji. He had seen that berserker rage before, and in his mind there was no stopping it. How on earth could he be so stupid to follow this man?

"It's all over now" Koji chuckled to himself morbidly to himself as Naruto flung himself forward towards his strangely immobile opponent, claws extended.

Suddenly the hooded man exploded into action. He ducked lightning fast under the first swipe of Naruto's claws, but it still ripped through his hood. His arm shot forward, so fast Koji did not even see it before he had his large callused hand around Naruto's throat holding him off the ground.

"You little shit!" he thundered in a deep commanding voice.

The blonde swung wildly at him mad with rage, not listening at all. The large man stood completely still, save for one hand that was rummaging through a pocket. A moment later he slammed what to Koji looked like a small paper note onto Naruto' forehead, that made him jolt and buckle, before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he went completely limp.

Koji watched all this in disbelief. During the last few days he had seen some horrible and amazing things, but here was a stranger that seemed to have no problem containing the monster that killed a whole team of soldiers by itself. Koji had no idea how o react he just stood and stared and hoped someone would wake him up soon, and tell him it was all a very weird dream.

The large man dropped Naruto, who collapsed onto the ground with a thud.

"You little brat, I thought I taught you better control than that" he stated upset before he turned and looked straight at Koji.

His white hair was very long and unruly and was secured in a messy ponytail that reached his back. Long red lines ran from his eyes down his cheek and stopped right over a square set jaw. Koji raised his rifle at him in fear shaking the entire time.

"Don't come any closer" he almost screamed

"Look.." the man started but was interrupted before he could finish

"I said stop!" Koji continued almost wetting his pants. This man had killed Naruto without any problems and that thought scared Koji perhaps even more than Naruto himself. The white haired man took a step towards him, and in a moment of panic Koji squeezed the trigger.

The shot missed widely flying off into the forest. The man before him did not seem scared or intimated by far he just continued towards him. Koji started to try and reload but the large man ripped the rifle out of his hands.

"Please don't kill me, please don't" Koji started staggering backwards.

"Hey Koji! Calm down!" came from behind them

Both Koji and the large man turned to look. It was Naruto sitting on the ground with a slight smile on his face. The piece of paper was crumpled in his hand.

"Long time, no see, Ero-sennin.."

* * *

Aha! Good ol' Jiraiya back in the game!I have big plans for him, so stay tuned.


End file.
